There has been a surge in large insider stock purchases by corporate officers during the Dow’s 1,000-point selloff across the Oct. 15-Nov. 21 time frame. Below is just a small sampling of some of the recent activity:

My point: Despite all that is going on in Europe, the Middle East and Capitol Hill, there is deep interest from the well-lined pockets of corporate insiders who will spend big dollars on stock purchases when the market provides deep discounts. It simply demonstrates how the super-wealthy think when the market panics: They’re buying.

It goes against the grain for most retail investors, though, which also is evidenced by the wave of emails I receive during market downturns. Most people simply don’t have the stomach for market volatility.

But it’s exactly this kind of behavior that we can all learn from: using broad market weakness as opportunity to acquire assets on sale for reasons that are totally unrelated to the underlying business model.

Bryan Perry is editor of Cash Machine, a newsletter focused on dividends and income investing. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.